Sutro Park looking down.   6:36 p.m.

We weren't gonna walk but away we went.   6:37 p.m.

And now we're on the Coastal Trail.   7:06 p.m.

Ocean Beach   7:12 p.m.

By the Sea

The drumming was LOUD and this dog could not get enough.

Fall is here. It's almost dark at 7:18 p.m.

Ocean Beach   7:01 p.m.

Mail Call

Sent: Monday, September 22, 2014 at 2:58 AM
From: Jamie
To: Linda

I'm so glad you're done with the 20 hidden pics. I never said this when you first mentioned that project, but I've never like 'hidden pics' pics. I always feel slightly anxious and even queasy when I look at them. When I was little I always had a lot of trouble finding the hidden parts, and I probably still do. It's a 'different side of the brain' problem, I'm sure!

Do you have a picture of Deb's husband? The much-younger guy? It's okay if Deb's not in it….

Miss you too,
Jamie

***

Sent: Monday, September 22, 2014 at 1:56 PM
From: Anna
To: Linda

Hi Linda, Just wanted to say hi. We've been sick with this awful sinus/earache/fever thing so the past couple of weeks have been a blur but I think (hope) we are over it now. Everyone seems fairly functional today.

Nothing like moving and starting at new schools and trying to get a house done while sick:) We weren't alone at least. Something is going through Harriet's school and she brought it home to us. So I'm way behind on work but I'm just going with it for now.

I've been thinking about you all week. Remember last year when you did your kitchen floors and I said I wanted to do ours and you said to hire someone if possible because it is so MUCH work. Well. I did hire someone and two men worked here for three days straight just to get the sanding done. Thank goodness your message got stuck in my head and I didn't try to do it on my own. Those guys were exhausted at the ends of the day and they know what they are doing! The floors look beautiful. Now just waiting for the poly to dry. We are in the basement with the garage door open wide and fans blowing so the smell is tolerable but the down side is that chipmunks run in to where we are camping out and the cat gets them.

Life here isn't too bad. A bit lonely perhaps but it will get better. The good part is that we live right across the road from the farm Billy grew up on and I walk over there every day. It is really beautiful. One funny thing about Maryland, maybe this is a problem everywhere, but people don't go outside much. When I drive around I never see anyone outside, except in their cars. And the weather is amazing right now so that's not it. My nieces and nephews aren't down in the woods playing in the streams and I don't pass Billy's sisters while I'm walking. They are missing a lot of beauty. I do see Billy's brother sometimes- he milks cows here and some afternoons he is on the tractor in the fields and waves when I pass by. Mostly it feels as if I have the whole place to myself.

 
This weekend we are going home though!! Very exciting. Way too much driving but we are homesick and it is Billy's birthday so we are going to put the dogs in the kennel and have a quick trip home.

How are you? How is your work going? More soon, lots of love, Anna

***

Anna, guess what! It's the same here. It's the first day of fall and the weather is beyond compare. It's "after work," and nobody, but nobody* is on the beach. I kind of like it that way, but it does seem strange.

*I stand corrected. Peter was on the beach, along with his pal Carmen.

Looking south   7:29 p.m. 

Looking east   7:29 p.m.

Looking north   7:29 p.m.

In Meg's bathroom.

Hello?

I love what Barbara did with the color. (It is not really this blurry!)

Barbara got it first. The new iPhone, that is. I begged her to send me a report once she'd had a chance to spend a little time with it:

Leeeendaaa!!!

I've got an iPhone report:

1. Love the screen size (i have the smaller one)

2. Love, love the screen resolution

3. Like the old phone's angular look better though!

4. In need of a new case

I went through a lot of stuff you had sent us but then I was thinking that I just so LOVE your migration design that I want to use it again. I changed the color, what do you think??

I asked her why she had chosen the smaller model. And I almost forgot to ask the most important question: What about the camera? Is it better than the one on the old phone? Her reply:

The big iphone is too big for my pocket.
Amazingly enough I only took 1 peeture. Looks very sharp.

Sent from Barbara's iPhone

Slightly Foggy

Coastal Trail   6:39 p.m.

Sick Day

When I told Mari I was feeling a little under the weather, she sent me this photo and note:

We were playing doctor at the hospital earlier this afternoon. If we lived near you, we would have taken great care of you. Mimi wants to be a doctor. Well, she said that today. What she'll say tomorrow… ?

Getting a late start

from Sutro Park  7:43 p.m.

Community Center

Ocean Beach   6:48 p.m.

My Hero

from my notes: "Writing creates thought; it's not the other way around."

Joanne Rocklin!

Today Deb and I drove up to Marin to hear her speak.

Eleven years ago I illustrated my first book. (That Halloween book up there on the right.) Were there other Halloween books out there, I wondered? What were they like?

I combed the bookstores and discovered a book called This Book Is Haunted. The illustrations were by another "Joanne"––JoAnn Adinolfi, and they were terrific. I bought the book and took it home to study the pictures.

I never thought I'd actually read the book, but when I did I flipped. In case you haven't guessed by now, the words are by Joanne Rocklin. The stories are hilarious and a little bit bad. Bad in the best way. Baby Bibble, for instance––what happens to her is shocking.

I loved the book then and I love it now. And today I had the great pleasure of meeting Joanne in person. Fleabrain Loves Franny is her latest book.

Ocean Beach   6:49 p.m.

Color Palette

Ocean Beach   6:53 p.m.

Ocean Beach   5:48 p.m.

Detritus II

Detritus I

Our Only Jeanne

That's Jeanne. We're at the opening of a show at Haines Gallery called Political Fictions.

This is Jeanne's piece. Not easy to photograph! But you can read about it in today's Chronicle.

A beautiful gallery at 54 Geary.

I met Jeanne and Shannon (that's Shannon on the right) through the Writing Salon.